Cash in the City: Affording Manolos, Martinis, and Manicures on a Working Girl's Salary (Paperback)

by Juliette Fairley (Author) "Today's single woman can be so blinded by the appeal of a certain lifestyle that she won't recognize a trap that can change her financial..." (more)
Key Phrases: summer share, urban woman, investment club, Leigh Ann, New York, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"funny and surprisingly practical". -- BookPage, April 2002

How do those beautiful women in HBO's Sex and the City afford the wine, the clubs, the shoes? Well, Juliette Fairley, author of Cash in the City: Affording Manolos, Martinis, and Manicures on a Working Girl's Salary can tell you how. In this funny and surprisingly practical book, Fairley lays out the financial rules for 20 and 30-something women of the city. Far from focusing on the martini side of her title, Farley details the pitfalls of debt, erases some common money myths and just plain brings girls of a certain age back to their senses about their love affair with the almighty dollar. ( BookPage, April 2002)

Did you ever wish that you, too, could live the lifestyle popularized by the chic, chic single gals on Sex and the City?

Cash in the City: Affording Manolos, Martinis, and Manicures on a Working Girl's Salary by Juliette Fairley may help you achieve your inner fabulousness while not separating you from too much of your hard-earned money.

Many of the tips are reasonably doable. Among them:
* Pay down your debt, and don't take on any more.
* Start saving, the earlier the better.
* Take advantage of your company's 401(k).
There's always an eager audience for shopping advice, and Fairley is ready: Always buy on sale, invest in a classic wardrobe, hit the outlets (addresses and descriptions for discount shopping centers in different cities are included in the ''Resources'' section), buy cosmetics at the drugstore instead of the department store. And decorate your overpriced, undersized urban dwelling with fun accessories (two words: throw pillows).

Her advice on the subject of waiting for Prince Charming to whisk you off and solve your financial woes? Don't. It's your financial life; you're responsible for tending to its health.

The over-30 crowd may find some of the suggestions impractical. For instance: How many older women do you know who are willing to live with a roommate? Or buy clothes sight unseen off eBay? Or allow a beauty student to style and color her hair, regardless of the savings?

Census 2000 reveals that there are about 12 million women who fall under the category of ''female householder, no spouse present,'' which translates to about 12% of all households. For these women, the most useful advice of all is to educate yourself about, and take charge of, your finances. That tip is ageless. (USA Today, May 13, 2002)

Product Description
A Girl’s Guide to Managing the Money You Make While Living the Life You Want

"Cash in the City is destined to become the urban girl’s ultimate guide to a glamorous lifestyle . . . on a shoestring salary. It’s overflowing with sage advice for living well, looking good, and having fun. I also found a very powerful and upbeat message for young women everywhere–You can create whatever life you desire . . . if you know how to do it right. Juliette Fairley shows the reader precisely, and with great flair, how to do just that."
–Barbara Stanny, author of Prince Charming Isn’t Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money

Looking and feeling good is expensive–especially in America’s big cities. From New York City to Los Angeles, single, young, working women in big cities are finding it increasingly difficult to live up to the standards set in TV and movies. No longer do you have to sacrifice a night on the town in order to afford those shoes you must have. By combining financial advice with real-life issues, Cash in the City shows you how to have it all and do it all without breaking the bank. In this first-of-its-kind book, you’ll learn how to live the glamorous life, get weekly pedicures, and pay your bills on time!

Cash in the City will help you overcome the obstacles that every hip young woman from San Francisco to Atlanta, Chicago to Boston faces. You’ll quickly learn how to avoid money missteps and keep your finances in order while you decorate your apartment, keep yourself looking good, and negotiate for a raise. Dig in your high heels, crack open this book, and find out how to live life to the fullest, even on a budget. You can be an "It" girl and financially savvy all at the same time.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471209813
• ISBN-13: 978-0471209812
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #871,654 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointed..., January 15, 2006

By	Nicoletta Carlone "Nicoletta Carlone" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

I was not at all happy about with this book. It seemed like it was trying to be many thing at this same time, and by doing that was spread out too thin. The author should have focused on finance, or fashion, but not both of them.

The author also contradicts herself. She says that get married is not a financial goal ( which it is not) and then she teaches women how to get into charity events so that they can rich men. is it just me, or is this a contradiction?!

The author says that women should only do charity work so they can move up on society, what about doing charity work for the reason it's supposed to be done. To help people out!

This book also gives ridiculous tips on fashion, that seemed like they were pulled out of every fashion book I have ever read.

The author's advice for investing is not clear enough, and should really go into more detail.

On top of all of this, the author spends most of the book telling women they should be financially independent career women....and the rest of the book telling us how we can look good for men...Ugh...no thank you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a useful gift!, March 18, 2002

By A Customer

Everyone can get help with Cash in the City! I bought the book with my granddaughters in mind but I got some tips for my own good: how to use the internet sites to save money on designer clothes, for example, and volunteer as an usher to see the latest plays/shows free of charge. That's a big saving!
I enjoyed the case scenarios after each section; they put things in perpective; it's about real situations and what was done to overcome the problems.I believe Cash in the City will be a useful gift for people, like my granddaughters, starting a life of their own because they can refer to the situations and avoid common mistakes such as living day-to-day spending money foolishly.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lacking in Content, July 26, 2004

By	Jody (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

As the last reviewer indicated, this book does indeed have a catchy title. What lies within thought is not anything quite as catchy. Most tips are briefly touched upon without going into more in depth detail. The book seems to be written for single women and even goes as far as to give tips on obtaining and keeping men. Which is out of the subject title boundaries. If the tips were good, I might have been ok with that. The tips were poor, one example being don't have too neat of an apartment because men don't like that. Better advice - just be yourself rather that worrying whether your apartment is too neat. Most men, from my experience, really don't care.